Romania had a combined share of avoidable deaths of people aged less than 75 of 80.1% in 2016, the highest in the EU, where the average was of 68%, according to recent Eurostat data.

Romania recorded the highest share of treatable deaths across EU member states, of 31.9%, alongside Slovakia at 30.8%. Meanwhile, the share of preventable deaths in Romania stood at 48.2% in 2016. Overall, 89,301 deaths of people under 75 could be avoided in 2016 in Romania. Of these, 53,754 could have been prevented and 35,547 could have been treated.

Preventable mortality refers to causes of death that can be mainly avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions (i.e. before the onset of diseases/injuries, to reduce incidence). Treatable (or amenable) mortality refers to causes of death that can be mainly avoided through timely and effective health care interventions, including secondary prevention and treatment (i.e. after the onset of diseases, to reduce case-fatality).

Lithuania (30.1%), Malta (30.0%), Bulgaria and Latvia (both 29.7%) followed after Romania and Slovakia with high shares of treatable deaths. At the opposite end, the lowest shares of treatable deaths were registered in France (19.3%), ahead of Belgium (20.5%), Denmark (21.0%) and the Netherlands (21.7%).

Meanwhile, the highest shares of preventable deaths were registered in Slovenia (53.5%) and Hungary (51.7%), followed by Estonia (50.0%), Lithuania (49.8%), Austria (49.1%) and Latvia (48.9%). In contrast, the share was lowest in Bulgaria (35.4%), ahead of Cyprus (39.2%), Malta (39.9%), Italy and Poland (both 40.8%).

Across the European Union, about 1.7 million persons aged less than 75 died in 2016. Among them, around 1.2 million deaths could be considered as premature according to the Eurostat-OECD list of avoidable mortality. Out of those, 741, 000 preventable deaths could have been avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions, and 422, 000 treatable deaths through timely and effective health care interventions.

Heart attacks (174,000 deaths), cancers of the trachea, bronchus and lung (168,000 deaths) and strokes (87,000) accounted together for over a third (37%) of total avoidable causes of death of people aged less than 75.

Compared to 2011, avoidable deaths as a share of total deaths decreased by 1.7 percentage points, from 69.7% of total deaths in 2011 to 68.0% in 2016.

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editor@romania-insider.com